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Kerri Miller's Must-Read
"The Violet Hour"by Katie Roiphe
Susan Sontag fought death and won — until she didn’t. Dylan Thomas embraced it, drinking himself into a coma and ruminating on his eventual death at the age of 19 with his stunning poem, “And Death Shall Have No Dominion.”
As Katie Roiphe embarked on an investigation of “Great Writers at the End” — the subtitle of her book — she “chose lives that were puzzles, that confused and intrigued” her — writers who had contemplated their mortality by writing into it or hiding from it.
One of the most interesting moments of the book comes when Roiphe interviews James Salter, a novelist she has long admired. He invites her to his front porch and serves her tea, and then proceeds to avoid most of her questions about how much he has considered his own death. He is only 89, after all…
But the interview provides a surprising realization for Roiphe about her father’s last moments — a conversation she never had with her loved ones but that is surprisingly appropriate with a stranger.
I’m looking forward to interviewing Katie Roiphe on March 22 — catch it on The Thread!
-K.M.
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The Thread Live 2016: Full scheduleGet event details
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